Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008 - (Page 30)

30 Special Report NYU INVESTMENT CONFERENCE H&MM June 2, 2008 | HotelMotel.com NYU 30-year milestone Continued from page 1 grow from 200 delegates in 1979 to a projected 2,300 in 2008— and to being a tremendous source of scholarship funds for NYU. Jennings was working as a broker and ofﬁce manager for legendary New York hotel broker and consultant Stephen Brener in 1979 when he came up with the idea of a conference held in conjunction with NYU. “Steve was enthusiastic about academic pursuits and taught at the NYU Real Estate Institute,” Jennings recalled. “He approached the dean of the school and suggested they put together a seminar.” The ﬁrst event was held at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York and, Jennings said, “Steve was so concerned about people not coming. He reached out to all his contacts and, as a premium, we gave away Stephen Rushmore’s book, “The Valuation of Hotels.” (Rushmore also worked for Brener.) The price to register: $300. “We drew 200 people and everybody was happy,” Jennings said. The luncheon address was given by Albert Formicola, head of the New York hotel association. Another speaker was hotel pioneer Ray Schultz, who created brands like Hampton Inn. Some seminar subjects seemed ahead of their time—one session explored “the art of the deal,” and another covered resort timeshares. In its third year, the conference moved to the Waldorf=Astoria, and it has alternated between that hotel and the Marriot Marquis ever since. Another signiﬁcant move took place in the mid-1990s when the conference afﬁliated with NYU’s Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, moving away from the real-estate institute because it had become much more hotel-oriented, Jennings said. Jennings and Brener were preparing for the 16th conference when, tragically, Brener suffered a heart attack and died. “Everyone thought that would be the end of the conference,” Jennings remembered, “but it turned out the event had a life of its own.” In fact, Jennings said, “seeds for some of the biggest deals were made at that conference.” While Jennings herself went to work for Rushmore at HVS (where she is an executive vice president), conference organizers turned to Jonathan Tisch, president of Loews Hotels, to head up the 17th conference. Tisch said he had attended most of the previous conferences and added, “I considered it an honor because I had tremendous respect for Steve and what he had created.” When Tisch took over the conference, it welcomed 600 delegates. “Steve had already broadened the horizons, migrating from being a purely investment conference to covering many areas of interest. That helped us in terms of attendance,” he said. “When Jon came on board,” Jennings recalled, “he reached out to prominent people in the industry for advice. He took the conference to the next level with innovations like hiring a production company, which made the meeting smoother and enabled us to use music and graphics. He also instituted ideas like The Deal of the Year, and prizes on Tuesday morning to encourage attendance after everybody had been out late Monday night.” Since the mid1990s, Dr. Lalia Rach, divisional dean, clinical professor and HVS International Chair, NYU Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management, has been a central part of the conference, serving on the planning committee and moderating an always highly anticipated c.e.o. panel on the ﬁrst morning. “When Lalia came on the scene, she wanted to make the conference important for her students and wanted it to carry more of a Tisch Center brand,” Jennings said. “Previously, there had not been much of a focus on NYU’s participation and she has accomplished that. Her students are able to come to the event and mingle with c.e.o.s, which is a great opportunity.” In the time of her involvement, the big change, aside from growth, has been “getting into the marketplace in a more deﬁned fashion,” Rach said. “Working with Jon and Dorothy, we ﬁgure out what’s really working well and what’s not. “We have also made some thematic changes, like turning Tuesday into a focus day,” she said. “This year we will focus on the business of hotels because the hotel business has now transitioned into the business of hotels.” Today, Rach said, “the conference reﬂects what’s going on in the industry; it’s a connection to the industry. For instance, the 2002 conference reﬂected the aftermath of 9-11. We have also become more international.” Another major change is the growth in the female audience. “While it is still far from half, it has grown dramatically,” Rach said. The conference “is still the place to come and make deals. And Jon constantly reminds us that’s what it’s all about,” she said. Jennings, Tisch and Rach all agree that the process of putting together each year’s conference is methodical, because of the need to keep up with rapid industry changes. As Jennings described it, “It’s almost a blank palette when we start. We ask for ideas, and right after Labor Day the planning committee has a meeting where we ask members to make suggestions for topics. We had already garnered suggestions prior to that meeting from patrons and sponsors.” Tisch said, “Dorothy makes it easy; she is the soul of the conference.” Through the years, organizers have seen tense moments, like the year a c.e.o. called Rach at 7 a.m. to tell her that he could not appear on the panel at 9 a.m. because of a pending business deal. And there have been many highlights, including top-shelf speakers Al Gore, Joe Lieberman, Larry King and Bill Richardson, as well as industry luminaries too numerous to count. In the end, it’s all about the money—for the students. “All the money goes to scholarships, hiring and other studentbased initiatives,” Jennings said. “We have hired quite a few NYU grads at HVS and they have done very well.” To celebrate the 30th anniversary, Jennings said the team will pull out the stops. “But we won’t dwell on that milestone. We are always looking to grow and do better.” hmm@questex.com Jack Rodman, formerly with Ernst & Young and now senior adviser with Westport Capital Partners; Jonathan Tisch, president of Loews Hotels, who took over the running of the conference in its 17th year; and Stephen Rushmore, president and founder of HVS International, whose book, “The Valuation of Hotels,” was given to attendees at the ﬁrst conference Conference coordinator Dorothy Jennings, executive v.p.-operations, HVS International; Tisch; and Dr. Lalia Rach, dean and professor at the NYU Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism, and Sports Management Rodman; NYU International Hospitality Industry Investment Conference founder and legendary New York hotel broker Stephen Brener; and Laurence Geller, chairman and c.e.o. of Strategic Hotel Capital Speaker Sen. Joe Lieberman and Jennings Stephen and Ann Brener Rach and Preston Robert Tisch, chairman and director of Loews Corp. ALL PHOTOS COURTESY OF DOROTHY JENNINGS http://HotelMotel.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008

Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008 Contents State Programs Help Define Green Hotels AmericInn Boosts its American Presence Questex, The Bench to Host Russia Event Perspective Letter to the Editor Legally Speaking Guest Column Marketing Matters Consultant's Corner Satisfaction Trends On Finance Travel Trends Cornell Insights Energy Star Update Maintenance Doctor Management Trends Trends & Stats Finding Financing Challenges Developers Credit Crunch Still Tops List of Lawyers' Concerns Mixed-use Funding Bleak, Panelists Say Luxury Landscape Keeps Pushing Higher PTACs Events Casegoods Seating Energy Controls and Sensors Pest Control Electronic Locks Transactions Supplier News Timeshare Misconceptions Still Prevalent Awards People Ad/Edit Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - June 2, 2008

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